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... And we are back! with more Simpsons song parodies! I love the way the writers manage to take a well-known song and just, er, Simpson it up. Here are some more examples of songs they've, ah, covered over the years.

(Once again I must apologise in advance for the poor sound quality, as these videos, for some reason, are very scarce on YouTube, and many consist of people having literally seemed to have taped them off their TV via a microphone! What is this? The Dark Ages?) :rolleyes:

What better way to honour Beethoven than to take his beautiful, timeless masterpiece “Ode to joy” and make it into a song about decaptiating a teacher? Haw haw!


And speaking of classics and masterpieces, wonder what ol' Blue Eyes would have thought of this treatment of “It was a very good year”?


And what parody would be complete without a look-in from Springfield's oldest and crabbiest man? In a stylish take on the “Charles Foster Kane” song from the classic movie, “Citizen Kane”, heeeeeeer's Monty!

Trollheart, I was extremely happy to come to your journal and find a new update of The Meat Grinder. No matter how many you do, I always love them. :D

And I'm not sure how you're having such bad luck... I went to the Encyclopedia Metallum, his "random band" and within a few hits had a power metal band. Some day you'll write up one of these features and listen to a band you actually enjoy!

Either that, or the continual exposure to extreme metal will brainwash you into enjoying it.

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Episode 01: Like peering into the deepest ocean abyss --- The Deadstation --- 2012
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Apparently, this progressive metal band intend that each of their recordings should be released as an episode from a fictional TV programme, of which this is, obviously, the first. It's actually an EP, having only seven full tracks on it, coming in with a total running time of just under 27 minutes. It's the brainchild of Shjon Thomas, who plays guitar, bass and also sings. The band is then made up of two others, lead vocalist and drummer Greg Murphy and guitarist Ryan Mattheu.

It opens with a short intro, called “100 foot drop”, ambient guitar and low, atmospheric keys courtesy of guest keysman Nathaniel Rendon, then drums cut in and the guitar gets more loud and forceful, with the keys setting up a kind of flute melody which is suddenly and violently kicked aside as the drums hit into steamhammer mode and Murphy screams as the guitars go into overdrive and we're into “Subsistence defined”, with a hard progressive metal edge, almost shouted vocals kind of in the vein of LostProphets, then a nice little gentle guitar and keyboard passage with almost strings accompaniment before dark piano takes the melody followed by a screeching guitar solo.

It's certainly clear these guys can play, but the juxtapositioning of hard, angry metal over more melodic and tuneful riffs and almost orchestral ideas is a little jarring and hard to get your head around. Murphy's a decent vocalist, but you tend to listen more to the music than to his singing, as it's a little pushed to the background. Next we're into their epic, the multi-part title track, with its seven-minute hard and heavy opener, “Drugs for pain inside”. There's some quite introspective guitar there, but it's quickly overtaken by hard drumming and sharper riffs, then a really nice little piano run as the thing slows down for a moment, and the vocals come in, though they're really more spoken than sung, and it goes back to rocking out.

Part 2 comes in on a spoken vocal, almost poetic, with deep, throbbing keyboard underlying the narration, as “August 4th, 3:21 AM” gets going with rather surprisingly some very progressive rock keys, the tempo increasing as the song goes along, and I must say I really like this. It cuts off suddenly though, only about three minutes long, but with the main theme continuing in the faster and harder but still very melodic “Anything but this ... anywhere but here”, where the vocals, roared out, become much more audible and discernible. Some great guitar takes over here, as Mattheau pushes himself to see just what he can do on the fretboard, and behind the kit Thomas bashes the skins like a man possessed.

This is also a short track, and leads into the final part of this epic, the acoustic guitar led “I cannot explain myself anymore” with some lovely rippling keyboards accompanying it, then hard guitar chops up the melody as the vocals cut in and the band set off on the climactic ending to what is really a very, very good piece of music. Great guitar solo and some fine keys backing it up, but then it sort of tumbles into a big heavy and rather confused guitar ending, which I think takes from the piece.

The final track is also short. “Slowly, but surely, I'm drowning”, is again taken in on acoustic guitar with slow, echoey drums, and then some jazzy piano counterpointing the tired-sounding, almost whispered vocal, which no doubt is to reflect the title. Very ambient, with a lovely strings-like flowing keyboard melody and ending on a simple guitar line that fades then suddenly cuts off.

When this started I wasn't sure what to think, and now it's over I'm still not sure. There are some great moments on the EP to be sure, but I find it's a little confused, with mad guitar hammerblows punching in seemingly out of nowhere, music cutting off almost in the middle of notes, and some very strange and experimental vocals that really, for a lot of the album, you can't really hear too well.

But do I like it? I'd have to say that on balance, yeah, I do. I don't quite get the TV station idea, nor the episodes of a show thing, but maybe I will on further listenings. Be interesting to see what episode 02 is like, assuming they release it.

TRACKLISTING

1. Hundred foot drop
2. Subsistence defined
3. Like peering into the deepest ocean abyss
(i) Drugs for pain inside
(ii) August 4th --- 3:21 AM
(iii) Anything but this ... anywhere but here
(iv) I cannot explain myself anymore
4. Slowly, but surely, I'm drowning

Loath though I am to say it, there's even a Marillion album that is in danger of being ruined by one track I consider to be below par. And no, it's not “Somewhere else”! Read on...

These are, as you probably know by now, the tracks that stand out as the usually one bad track, or less good, which can spoil your enjoyment of an album. That's not true, of course: one bad track won't make you less likely to listen to an album if you like it, but these are the tracks that tend to make you wish that they hadn't been included, that sour the overall experience of listening to an otherwise good or even great album. They're the ones that get skipped over, never included on playlists and that we wish just weren't there to detract from the overall enjoyment of the album in question. They are, the
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Easy target (Heart) from “Bad animals”, 1987
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I've reviewed it some time back, and I stand by what I said, that this is one of Heart's best albums (that I've heard). In fact, it was one of their most commercially successful, giving them the two major hits “Alone” and “Who will you run to”. Shame then that it's spoiled by one by-the-numbers rock song. This is it. Just zero thought put into it, I feel, and even the band sound bored singing it. I know it's certainly one I skip over whenever I play the album. The lyric is awful: ”Open season/ And you were the reason” What? They even rob the main riff from, uh, the Alan Parsons Project!


Ocean cloud (Marillion) from “Marbles”, 2004
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Yeah, that's the one. If you're lucky, you may not have heard it, as it only comes on the double-CD version of Marillion's “Marbles” album, but that's the version I have, and let me tell you, it would not be worth paying the extra if it were the only other extra track. Luckily it's not, but it is almost eighteen minutes long! Now, I won't say it's a terrible song, in fact it's an epic in the vein of “This strange engine”, “Grendel” or even “Interior lulu”, but I just find it boring. Well, that's not fair: I don't find it boring, but for a song of this length I find it wanders too much and I just lose interest. Plus, the subject matter is not one close to my heart: I don't really care if someone managed to circumnavigate the world in a boat, or whatever it's about. It's okay, but I really can't stick seventeen minutes plus of it. So sorry guys, but this is one I always hop over when playing this otherwise brilliant album. A real pity, as it would be quite close to perfect without this. Pass.


Teenage idol (Gary Moore) from “Victims of the future”, 1984
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Come on now, you've known for some time this was coming, haven't you? I spouted off about it during my Gary Moore anniversary tribute in February, and, well, I'm going to repeat that rant here. Well, not entirely. But although “Victims of the future” is not by any means a perfect record, this is far and away not only the worst track on it, but the worst Gary Moore song I have ever had the displeasure to hear. It's trite, generic, throwaway and just totally uninspiring. The lyric seems to carry the message that all you have to do is jack in your job and pick up a guitar and you'll be a rock idol. Unrealistic at the very least. The music leaves much to be desired too, and it really comes across to me as something Gary threw together in five minutes, not worthy of inclusion on this or any other album, not really even worthy of being a B-side. As the kids say today, I believe, epic fail.

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Marillion- You've often spoken about this album on several occasions before, so I know just how important it is to you. For my own perspective, it was basically Peter Gabriel era Genesis being transplanted lock, stock and barrel to the 1980s. It was like punk and new-wave never happened, but I do remember that they were a big band in the UK at that time.

Supertramp- I think you're spot on with the Famous Last Words cover, for years the Hodgson and Davies partnership had been on the brink and the album cover says it all. I always thought that Davies needed Hodgson more than Hodgson needed Davies.

Daryl Hall- I've not heard that Daryll Hall album but what I do know they (Hall and Oates) were one of the biggest acts on the planet in the early to mid 1980s, always on the radio, tv and people always talking about them. Then they just seemed to disappear, it was like they went out of fashion and everybody forgot who they were.

I've just seen that you've done a Dio tribute on 125, really looking forward to reading this, will comment on my next post.

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Just want to wish all my friends in the US and in the storm's path a safe transition and minimal structural damage, if any. Keep your heads down and be safe, and we'll see you on the other side guys. You have our prayers and good wishes.

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Pick the most unlikely collaboration you can think of. Go on. I'll wait. Got it? Wrong. This is it. Well, of course it's not: I'm sure there are others as outlandish, and the aim of this section from the beginning has, after all, been to find teamups between artistes who would generally never be expected to be seen working with one another, in some cases where the one would not even know the other existed, let alone be willing to collaborate with them. And we've had some good ones: David Bowie and Pat Metheny. Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page, our very first outing. Then there was Cave and Kylie, Eminem and Elton... the list goes on.

But this one is a bit special. Famed as one of the progenitors of the real “new” or “futuristic” music of the early nineties, one of the first bands to ever appear onstage with computers, making Kraftwerk look like Led Zeppelin, the Art of Noise were a whole new proposition in music. Using tons of samples, Fairlights and sequencers, and creating what a lot of musical purists (myself included, at the time) snorted was “not real music at all”, they made a name for themselves as the ultimate avant-garde band of the eighties, defying musical convention and boldly going where (nearly) no musician had gone before.

So of course, it was only a matter of time before they hooked up with Tom Jones, wasn't it?
Kiss --- The Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones
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A legend in music, Tom was approaching his forty-eighth birthday when he teamed up with the young futurists. The song was a Prince one, which had done very well for the diminutive purple one, but when AoN and TJ got together, they made it even more successful, smashing the top ten with the biggest hit single for either act in three years. Utilising their trademark sampling technique, the boys slipped in snippets from their other hits, “Close to the edit” and “Peter Gunn”, as well as “Dragnet”, giving the song new life and direction. The song had been a staple of Jones's stage show for some time, but this was a totally different animal.

It's possibly debatable that had Jones released the song on his own he would have had a hit anyway, but the addition of the Art of Noise and their updated treatment of the song really made it something “the kids” were happy to buy, and they wouldn't feel like they were supporting some old fogey's retirement fund, cos, you know, he's just the guy singin', in't e? It's really an Art of Noise song, and those guys are cool!

Well, they were. This seems to have been their last commercial hurrah, as their next album failed to chart and they more or less faded away after that. Tom Jones? You remember “Sex bomb”, dont'cha? That was as we entered the new millennium, and as recently as 2009 he had a number one hit single again. So who exactly is the old fogey again?

Nice one TH! Not only do I love the Art of Noise/Tom Jones version of "Kiss" and think it's about a million times better than the original, but believe it or not, I can sing it pretty well so it's my go to track whenever I'm somewhere there's karaoke going on.

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WOOOOOO! Yeah, it's the witchin' season again, and true to form, we're looking at songs linked by a theme of, well, Halloween, looking at fear, the state of being afraid or things to scare you. BOO! Sorry... :D

No, we already did “Don't fear the Reaper” last Halloween, so this time we're kicking off with a power rocker from Uriah Heep, this is “Too scared to run”. BOO! Sorry. Again. :rofl:


You might not equate the Eagles with being afraid, but on their last album, “Long road out of Eden”, they did tackle the subject somewhat, with “Somebody”. Here it is. BOO! Okay, I'll stop now. BOO! Sorrrrryyy...
(Okay, can't find the original online --- Eagles material is almost as restricted as Supertramp! --- so here's a cover version. These guys do a good job, I must say)

Always a favourite at Halloween, mostly due to its being used in the movie “American werewolf in London”, it's Creedence, with “Bad moon rising”.


Mike Oldfield's seemingly-innocuous instrumental has come to signify some of the most creepy, unsettling images ever due to its being recognised as the theme to “The Exorcist”.


The master (or at least, ex-master) of gore and horror, it's Alice Cooper, with words kids may still be daring each other with as the moon hides behind banks of thick dark clouds and the midnight hour strikes: “This house is haunted”. BOO! (Okay, that's definitely the last one. I promise. Would I lie to you?)


And of course tailormade for this occasion, and recently featured in our “Secret life of the album cover”, here are Iron Maiden.


Another duke of the Dark, Nick Cave sings about someone you would not like to meet tonight, at least not alone. Or at all. Watch out for his “Red right hand”...


One I have to include, though I have featured it before, is the eerie “Creepshow” from prog rockers Twelfth Night. It's long, but definitely worth taking the time to listen to. Sends shivers up yer spine...


Whether it's meant to be or not, I always found this piece by ELO seriously scary, with its weird unearthly cries like the wails of damned souls, the sound of whips and flames, spooky choirs and backwards masking, and as it's called “Fire on high”, always assumed it was a vision of Hell.


Finally, expect these tonight until it gets dark. It's Joe Cocker, with “Night calls”. Hey, you could always turn out the light, pretend you're not home, but then, you don't want to be a spoilsport, do ya? BOO! Okay, okay! I'm going...

Marillion just opened up the whole world of prog to me. As I said in the review, up to then I had considered prog "yesterday's genre", and didn't think anyone was doing it today --- I only got into Pendragon a few years ago --- so at the time it was super-exciting to me. Yes, they do sound like Genesis, and that comparison dogged them their first few years, especially with the "Grendel/Supper's ready" thing, but I think in albums like "Fugazi" and "Misplaced childhood" they stepped out of the shadow of Genesis. Of course, much of that image was down to Fish, and once he left the band kind of reimagined itself under Hogarth, to the point where they slowly moved away from pretty much anything resembling recognisable prog. I still love them though, and "Script" remains one of my all-time favourite albums.

Marillion also made prog, as such, acceptable to the masses with singles like "Assassing", "Market square heroes", "Punch and Judy" and of course later had big hits with "Kayleigh" and "Lavender", not to mention "Sugar mice".


I could talk Marillion all day, but we must move on... ;)
Yeah, whether intentional or not, I always feel this is the case. All of the major hits for Supertramp were written by, and sung by Roger. If you look at the reverse of his debut solo (also reviewed) you'll see him standing in the middle of a storm naked, with a huge look of relief and freedom about him. Even the opening track, "Had a dream", features a big, deep, throaty shout of release. I don't think that was coincidental, although he says there was no friction with the other guys...
H&O another band I "couldn't afford to like" when I was younger, as they seemed wimpish and disco-y, but now I know better I must track down some of their material. Was surprised and impressed by the solo effort from Daryl though, really quite good.
Look forward to it! :thumb:

Vengeance descending --- Crystal Eyes --- 2003 (Heavy Fidelity)
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An album I had originally slated for “Bitesize”, this turned out to be so good in the course of my listening to the first few tracks that I decided it deserved a place here. Formed in Sweden in 1992, Crystal Eyes have currently six albums, of which this is the third. Their last was in 2008, but there's talk of a new one soon, so fingers crossed! The last copy I had was corrupted, but even then I got a real sense of listening to something special, so I've bought it again from a different source.

The title track opens proceedings with a phrase which is I'm sorry going to dog this review, and it's Iron Maiden. I can't help it: the guitars sound very Maidenesque, the melodies on occasion border on rip-off without quite hitting that ground, and it's thoroughly enjoyable metal all the way. At least vocalist Mikael Dahl sounds nothing like Dickinson, with his own style even though he does imitate the “air-raid siren” a lot. It's a fast and powerful opener, heavy but very melodic, putting me in mind also of Nightscape, whose only album “Symphony of the night” I reviewed a long time ago. There's a certain military style that creeps into the song close to the end, and it sort of (sort of) slows down, but refreshingly though this is an instrumental section it's not peppered by mad guitar solos or shredding, with the two guitars working very well together.

A deep, throaty bassline from Claes Wikander starts “Highland revenge”, soon joined by the twin guitar attack of Jonathan Nyberg and Dahl, in a semi-historical tale of vengeance that Manowar would be proud of --- well, what was it the title said was descending, after all? Some great thunderous drumming courtesy of Stefan Svantesson, and a really nice little guitar breather in the middle, what sounds like keys but I don't see any credit for those. Oh wait: I see from my friends Encylopaedia Metallum that Dahl plays the keyboards too. Rather embarrassingly, he then yells “Freedom!” Uh yeah, Mikael: how many times have you watched “Braveheart”, exactly? Possibly a little off for a band from Scandinavia to be singing about Scottish independence, but then, stranger subjects have been covered, and it's a decent rocker with a lot of heart, and a great chorus: very anthemic.

A nice gentle little intro to “Mr. Failure”, but it doesn't last as the guitars toughen up and the song gets going and is a good power anthem with another great chorus ... hold on a minute! They're singing “Mr. Failure” in the next track! So that means, uh, the titles got fecked about. Thanks a lot, Megaboon! I paid a dollar for this? Right, I'll have to look back and see what track I was talking about, then. As it goes, “Mr. Failure” is great fun, a fast, rock and rolling beast that just doesn't care and doesn't in any way take itself seriously. It's followed by “Dream chaser”, which has a guitar opening perhaps just a little too close to a famous song by Guns n Roses, but is pretty damn great, with a more Maidenesque sound coming through as the track gets going, and the drums roll out a pretty decent attempt on “Die with your boots on”. Sorry guys, but the comparisons just can't be overlooked.

Oh, it seems the track I thought, or was led to believe, was “Mr. Failure” originally is called “Child of rock”. Well, that's what happens when you're too poor to shell out for the CD. Also, watching porn while trying to do a review is not really recommended. Really must get my eyes tested. Anyway... on we go, and “Dream chaser” has another fistful of hooks and a great chorus, and a truly excellent guitar solo from Nyberg. This takes us into the longest track, seven minutes plus of “The wizard's apprentice”, on which for some reason session vocalist Daniel Nieman, best known for his work with Lost Horizon and Heed, takes the mike. I have to say, good as the song is, I don't see any really appreciable difference between his vocals and Mikael Dahl's, not so much that there should be any reason the regular singer couldn't do this song. Perhaps there were other reasons.

Nice guitar work too, but what comes through most powerfully is the earthquake drumming of Svantesson, which really drives the track and gives it an even heavier edge than the ones that I have already heard up to this. “Metal crusade”, as you might expect, keeps things hard and heavy, marching along on a robust guitar line with Dahl back on vocals, and it's another of those “rock will never die” songs that are generally quite funny, depending on how seriously the band are taking themselves. ”Heavy metal roars in our brains/ Heavy metal runs in our veins!” Uh, yeah.

Another marching, military style rhythm and more Maiden tricks on “The beast in velvet” --- I assume they're not talking about Eddie! --- No, it's the tale of a degenerate aristocrat who seems to enjoy hunting people, safe from any sort of legal repercussions as he is one of the wealthy and privileged, and therefore protected and untouchable. Great solos from both Dahl and Nyberg, and some nice noodling on the frets too, then we're into “Heart of the mountain”, which has a touch of the Gary Moores about it, definite celtic feel, perhaps harking back to “Highland revenge”, with again some great guitar interplay between Dahl and Nyberg: they really work well together.

The album closes on the oddly-named “Oblivion in the visionary world”, and no, I have no idea what it means, though looking at the lyric it seems perhaps it may be about death or the afterlife, and facing same. Either way, it's a nice laidback respite from all the mad power-metal which, great as it is, tends to get the tiniest bit wearing at times. Oh, and I'm wrong: this is far and away the longest track, almost nine minutes long. Some exquisite and heartfelt guitar work from Nyberg and a beautiful solo from Dahl as his axe partner keeps the main melody: just lovely. Oh wait, once again I'm wrong. The song ends before the six minute mark and then there's silence for a minute or so, then some mad “Muppet Show”-type jam comes in for a few seconds and it's over. Exceedingly weird. But a damn fine album, and a band I need to hear more from.

TRACKLISTING

1. Vengeance descending
2. Highland revenge
3. Child of rock
4. Mr. Failure
5. Dream chaser
6. The wizard's apprentice
7. Metal crusade
8. The beast in velvet
9. Heart of the mountain
10. Oblivion in the visionary world

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Okay, so who have we not slagged off so far? So many countries, so little time... Ooh I know! What about Hungary? Sure, they only entered the contest for the first time in 1994, but that's no reason to exclude them. In fact... here's their very first entry, which rather amazingly came fourth. Not bad for your first try! I have to say, it's a damn fine song: quite folky and the acoustic guitar really suits the mood of the music. Sung by a lady called Friderika Bayer, it's actually more indicative of the kind of songs that countries like this used to enter into the contest, before they all started going pop and dancy, so that now they pretty much all sound the same, whether they're sung in English or in their native language.

Seems Hungary never managed to win the Eurovision, but bringing songs of this calibre into the contest they must surely be credited, at least partially, with raising the bar for future years. There was a time when you could watch the Eurovision and actually get a flavour of what each country's national music was like; even if you couldn't understand what they were singing about, it was still an experience. Now, it's just all so much X Factor rubbish mostly, with the only difference being that it may be sung in another language. But you can't even be sure of that anymore.

So though we're dedicated to slagging off the worst of the worst in this section, as I picked this at random and had never heard it before, let's hear it for Hungary, who in 1994 brought a sense of magic and class to the Eurovision Song Contest.
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1994 --- Hungary --- “Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet (Who will be there?)” by Friderika Bayer

I really liked your Dio review, but I would conclude that probably through no real fault of his own, that Dio on two ocassions was in a band (Rainbow and Black Sabbath) that were good enough for his awesome vocal talents and by the time he decided to go solo, he would never be able to reach the heights of what he had achieved with either of those two bands. Apart from his solo debut which is a very good album, the rest of his solo discography was mostly just average metal fanfare (based on the albums that I've heard)

I'd agree with you up to a point. I think every metal head has "Holy diver" in their collection, and it is one of the seminal metal albums of that period. I don't think I know anyone, who's into metal, who has a bad word to say about it. Personally, I think it and "The last in line" form the apex of Dio's achievements, and from there on he began to slide into not quite mediocrity, but a far lower level of quality. Maybe it was the brilliance of those two albums that did for him: people expected the third one to be as good (I know I did) and it wasn't, then the fourth was, let's be honest, pretty average and after that, up until I think "Killing the dragon", he released a fairly okay but nothing special slew of albums that totally failed to capitalise on the success of "Holy diver" and "The last in line".

I guess you could pull tracks from most of the albums and make up one decent one (excepting HD and TLIL), but that's not really good enough, is it? After releasing, what, ten albums, there should have been at least a glimmer of the spark that fired the debut, but by and large there wasn't. I really consider his later solo career a missed opportunity, and the disappointment of the third and fourth albums led to my stopping buying any new material from him, something I only started doing again a year or so ago. I didn't feel I'd missed much.

Lions and Tygers and Bares, oh my! Still to come...

In order both to give my readers (that's you lot) a preview of what's next for review, and really to push myself to make sure that I get off my arse and actually do the reviews, I'm going to publish a “coming next” list each Monday, detailing what albums are going to be reviewed that week. I'll then do my damndest to stick to that.

At the moment, the new albums I have for review are from Marillion, Big Big Train, Steve Harris, Hostsonaten, Magnum, Jadis, Ten, Susannah Hoffs, Tygers of Pan-Tang, Imagine Dragons, Freedom Call, Deacon Blue, Tony Banks, Barenaked Ladies, Winter Tree, Neal Morse, School of Seven Bells, Mystery, Ritchie Sambora, Nanci Griffith, Status Minor, The Script, Kamelot, ZZ Top, Wolfsbane, Two Door Cinema Club and more.

Some of these will find their way into “Bitesize”, so if you don't see albums slated for review in a particular week here, then you'll find them, well, there. Naturally, life may intrude and prevent me fulfilling my intentions every week, but insofar as I can I want to try to stick to this schedule, as I'd like to get through all of these before the new year rolls around, assuming we don't all die near the end of December, thank you very much Mayan civilisation!

So then: the schedule for this week, ending November 11, in no particular order is:
British Lion by Steve Harris
The hipsters by Deacon Blue
Someday by Susannah Hoffs
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Chapter One by Hostsonaten
See right through you by Jadis
Night visions by Imagine Dragons
Ambush by Tygers of Pan-Tang
Land of the crimson dawn by Freedom Call

If someone would prefer an album mentioned reviewed before others, let me know. I'm easy, as long as I get through them, but there's no reason you should have to wait longer than you have to for an album you want to see reviewed. Hey, I'm just a nice guy, y'know?

Note: now that we're in November, I'm still trying to get through the backlog of new albums I have, so for the next two months I'll be reviewing these almost exclusively. The odd old one might sneak in, but generally I'll be working to try to clear the decks in advance of 2013's new crop, so with that in mind I won't be identifying them by “Meanwhile, back in the real world” here, or indeed “Realworld Bitesize”, er, there. You know, in “Bitesize”, my other journal? They'll just be albums I'm reviewing, but all --- or at least 90% --- from this year. With that in mind...

The lion sleeps tonight. Sort of.

British Lion --- Steve Harris --- 2012 (EMI)
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Yeah, that Steve Harris. The one from Iron Maiden. The one who formed Iron Maiden, indeed, the only surviving member of the original lineup. You would probably say “about time”, what with Bruce Dickinson now on his sixth solo album, but there's an interesting story behind this. Seems that all the way back in the nineties Steve was mentoring a band who impressed him called, wait for it, British Lion. He kept in touch with them after they split up, writing with/for them whenever he got a break from Maiden's heavy recording and touring schedule, and this is basically the result. So really, it's not a Steve Harris solo album at all: it should really be called “British Lion” by British Lion, but no doubt the usage of the Iron Maiden bass player on the sleeve will attract much more interest than it would had it just been marketed as from the band British Lion.

That said, Harris is well involved, writing, producing and of course playing bass on the album, but if you think you're finally going to hear what the shy guy behind the four-string sounds like singing, you're out of luck, as he remains behind his beloved bass guitar, handing over all vocal duties to Richard “Ritchie” Taylor, original member of the band, while the guitar duties are split between Graham Leslie, erstwhile member, and David Hawkins, Taylor's new man on the axe. I admit I'm a small bit disappointed, reading the background now, as I had initially assumed this was a new project of Harris's own, but nevertheless what I've heard of it to date sounds good, so let's give it the old once-over, shall we?

There's wah-wah guitar from the off in the opener, “This is my god”, then the music drops almost completely away to introduce Taylor's vocals, which though strong without the music it has to be said are not that powerful when the full band kicks in. Decent guitar work, and of course as it's being touted as Harris's own solo effort (if only for marketing purposes) his bass is quite prominent in the mix, possibly moreso than on most Iron Maiden albums. But is it more Iron Maiden-lite than British Lion? Well, from the first track I'd say no; in fact, someone hearing this on the radio would not equate it with Maiden at all. It's nowhere as heavy, hardly metal at all, and indeed Harris states it looks back more towards the seventies hard rock of bands like UFO and The Who than coming anywhere near his own band. That's good in its own way: a new Maiden album would be nice, but it's also gratifying to see a solo artist properly stretching themselves beyond their usual influences and styles.

But I wouldn't say I'm too impressed even at that. The opener is good yes, but I don't see anything terribly great about it, and as the album goes on Taylor's somewhat ineffectual vocal starts to grate a little. The production is also quite muddy, odd given that an experienced hand like Harris is at the helm. And it's not just the vocal, though that is certainly below par: almost all of the instruments sound pushed too far down into the mix. Yeah, all except the bass. Hmmm. There's a quite Iron Maiden refrain to the chorus in “Lost worlds”, and you could almost imagine Bruce singing this, in fact I wonder if it might make an appearance on the next tour, touted as a Steve Harris solo song? Wouldn't be that surprised.

There's also an Iron Maidenesque bass-led instrumental ending to this song, but I must admit it's one of the better ones on the album. Things rock out in no uncertain fashion then for “Karma killer”, David Hawkins's growling guitar getting a good run out here, as he shows why Taylor decided to hook up with him after the initial breakup of British Lion, when he and Leslie went their separate ways. There's also a certain eastern influence to the melody here, something quite indicative of the writing Steve Harris has done, particularly on albums like “Piece of mind” and “Powerslave” for Maiden. Another thing only recently utilised, with varying levels of success, on Maiden albums has been keyboards, but here British Lion (you can't really say Steve Harris; it's not just him) use them quite well on the intro to “Us against the world”, though the guitar melody is classic Maiden. Must say, Taylor's voice sounds much better on this; perhaps it's when he pushes too hard that it falls short, as here he's quite restrained and it works well.

The next track is the only one on the album written by just Taylor with Harris, and features the first contribution of original British Lion guitarists Graham Leslie and Barry Fitzgibbons, and I have to say it's “Seventh son of a seventh son” Maiden, almost a copy of parts of the melody from songs like “Only the good die young” and “The evil men do”. It's a good rocker though, and “The chosen ones” is also the second longest track, just under six and a half minutes, with also a curious element of Dave Edmunds' “Girls Talk” in there, then the longest on the album, running for two seconds over seven minutes, is the only one on which all previous members of the band, plus one other, all collaborate.

“A world without Heaven” has a big hard guitar intro, then powers into a very Maidenesque melody, but with an almost soft chiming guitar line behind Taylor's vocal, again featuring the twin guitar attack of Leslie and Fitzgibbons, the second of three tracks recorded with them before the breakup of the original band. It's again a song you could imagine Maiden performing onstage, and would fit in quite well with their current themes and repertoire and image. British Lion though could certainly do with a stronger singer, and I find myself wondering if Steve has released this album as a) a promise kept to Taylor about helping him make it big or b) an easy vehicle upon which to launch his own solo career? Although in fairness, he does state that he doesn't see this album as a solo project, more a side project. Not sure what the difference is really, but I think what he's saying is that he's not planning to leave Maiden any time soon, unlike Dickinson, who left to pursue a solo career and then later came back to the fold. Iron Maiden is Steve Harris's first love, and it looks like he's planning to remain faithful to her.

Probably the most, indeed only, progressively-leaning track on the album, it's also one of the standouts, though one of the heaviest tracks comes as David Hawkins makes his return on guitar with “Judas”. Again though I have to say Ritchie Taylor's vocals are just not up to the job, and you have to wonder if Steve had chosen to assemble another band, or at least recruit a different vocalist --- or do the job himself --- if this album might have been better? I guess you have to say fair play to him for keeping faith with his old comrades though, it's just a pity they're not as good as he seems to think they are. Well, that's unfair: the guitar playing is great and the drumming is, well, the drumming, and with Steve himself taking bass, new guy Hawkins on keys, it could have been a very tight-knit band, but it really is let down by Taylor's weak and almost ineffectual singing.

“Eyes of the young” is the last track on the album to feature the original guitarists, and rocks along really nicely with an almost commercial melody, even Taylor's vocals almost rising to the occasion, and if there is to be a single from this album then I would pick this. I could see it doing quite well on radio: it's just heavy enough to appeal to metal fans (and Harris's name being associated with the project should already have them on board) and light and airplay-friendly enough to have one foot in the AOR camp, even edging close to pop, dare I say it? No I don't, but definitely the most instantly memorable song on the album, and British Lion/Steve Harris's best chance for a hit single. “These are the hands” takes things much further back into the 70s, with influences from the likes of Free and Bad Company, a big heavy grinding guitar sound against a general Maiden melody, and we close on “The lesson”.

Perhaps (and I know this is going to sound unkind but anyway) the lesson is that there's no room for friendship in business, or at least that friendship should not define business? I really feel Steve slipped up here, allowing Ritchie Taylor to take the vocals when he clearly is not up to it. On some tracks he comes close, but generally speaking he seems to be straining to be heard once the music gets going in earnest, and with another singer I think British Lion, as in here, the second incarnation, or third if you prefer, could have been much more of a force than I feel they will end up being. Maybe I'm wrong, and they'll go down hugely and everyone will love them, but as a showcase for a solo effort for Steve Harris I feel this will be a rather large disappointment for many Iron Maiden fans.

Of course, quite likely that Harris was not looking for those sort of fans, and was trying to do something different. That's certainly achieved with the closer, a ballad of all things, on soft acoustic guitar and lush strings keyboards, an acceptable backdrop for Taylor's voice, as he doesn't have to stretch or push to be heard, the music very laidback and gentle, some beautiful piano from Hawkins rippling along the melody, and “The lesson” laying claim to release as a single also, and forming an unexpected and very different ending to this, Steve Harris's first steps into the world of solo performance.

TRACKLISTING

1. This is my god
2. Lost worlds
3. Karma killer
4. Us against the world
5. The chosen ones
6. A world without Heaven
7. Judas
8. The eyes of the young
9. These are the hands
10. The lesson

In the end though, I'm left a little perplexed. Is this to be seen as a solo effort from Steve Harris, or is he just helping out the band he mentored in the nineties? The fact that the album is called “British Lion” and that the same name applies to the band, or did, is confusing. I think maybe if it had been “British Lion featuring Steve Harris”, or “Steve Harris and British Lion”, I would have been more sure of how to approach the album. As it is, I'm left with a dilemma: do I review this as the first solo album from the Maiden bassist, or as a band featuring him? It's hard to say, but if it's to be seen as his first solo effort, then in general, and on balance, I think it's something of a disappointment.

Not so much a savage bite from the British Lion really; more a scratch from the British Kitten.

I think I speak for everyone when I say, we need to see this on youtube.


Glad to see you're journal is still kicking Trollheart! I've been reading a bit on the last few pages, and hope to be leaving a worthwhile comment soon. Glad you're keeping it up. :)

Thanks nsw! Nice to see you wandering through my journal again, you're always welcome... :thumb:

:laughing:

http://www.trollheart.com/name.jpg
When I started researching this edition originally, I was more than a little surprised to find that there were only about three songs I could find that fit the bill. However, digging deeper I unearthed more, and now I almost have too many. It's a familiar theme, though not one that comes up all that often, but it has been treated several different ways by several different artistes, so let's have a look at some of them here.

Family man (Mike Oldfield) from “Five miles out”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lbum_cover.jpg

One of the very few hits Oldfield had in his career, and as such, again atypical in that it's a non-instrumental. Mike Oldfield of course made his name on the back of his multi-talent on just about every instrument you can name (and probably also some you can't), with his big breakthrough coming in the continuous symphony “Tubular bells”, for which he will always be best remembered. He did occasionally use some vocalists on his albums though, most notably Maggie Reilly on the hit “Moonlight shadow”, and here again on this. The song was later covered by Hall & Oates, but as that's the same song we won't be looking at it here, and have gone for the original.

Family man (Fleetwood Mac) from “Tango in the night”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._the_Night.jpg

A massive comeback album for Fleetwood Mac, who had not seen any real success since 1982's “Mirage”, this put them back on the map and gave them a whole new lease of life, yielding no less than five hit singles, of which this was the last, and least successful. Still a great song though.

Family man (Colin Hay) from “Gathering mercury”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ng-Mercury.jpg

Never heard of him, you say? Ah, but what if I were to sing thusly: “I come from a land down under...”? Yeah, he's one of those Men at Work, who were so popular in the eighties, but he's apparently had a moderately successful solo career stretching back to 1987, and this is from his current, and indeed eleventh solo album. Wow. Talk about a man at work! (Sorry) :D

Family man (James Taylor) from “In the pocket”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...the_Pocket.jpg

A legend who's had other songs with “man” in the title, such as “Company man” and “Handy man”, this song appears near the end of Taylor's 1976 album.

Family man (Black Flag) from “Family man”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Man_cover.jpg

Punk is certainly not something that makes its way into my journal often, if ever, and certainly not hardcore punk, but I'm intrigued by this. Utilising only spoken vocals by Henry Rollins, it's, well, let's say it's different... Damn scary, with a pretty terrifying message at the end, if you get it. Just listen to the anger in that voice.

Family man (Craig Campbell) from “Craig Campbell”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...pbellalbum.jpg

And to finish, to quote Monty Python, now for something completely different! This is country singer Craig Campbell, from his debut self-titled album released only last year, and in fact the first single taken from that album.

Wow ! This is has been my first look at your journal, Trollheart, and now I understand why people say such good things about it. It`s an extraordinary acheivement, in terms of writing style and material covered. Congratulations !
:clap:

As I warned you, I`m here to mention some of your old posts. Firstly, expecting an exclusively prog journal, I was pleased to see reviews of Copperhead Road and Night Owl, both of which I like myself, and both of which you described well. I also had a look at some of your Gary Moore posts - enjoyed a lot of the clips, especially one 13-minute track whose name escapes me. I`ll post another comment when I`ve read a bit more, ok ?

Thanks for the compliments, Lisnaholic, and welcome to my journal.
:)
Yes, many people think prog is all I'm into --- it IS my main love --- but as you'll see as you work through the pages I can feature anything from classical to country, from folk to electronic and even some old crooners (there's a review of a Neil Diamond album a lot further on). I try not to limit myself within the basic music I like --- there are some genres I just have no time for/interest in, such as jazz, hip-hop, punk etc --- and to provide as varied, within my own self-imposed limits, a musical choice here as I can.

Glad you're enjoying it. Feel free to comment (good or bad) and hope you stick around!

Pedestrian debut with very little in the way of imagination. Or, indeed, dragons of any kind.
Night visions --- Imagine Dragons --- 2012 (Interscope)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...bum_Cover.jpeg

This is, to be fair, not an album I either knew about or would have bothered with ordinarily, were it not for the gushing praise from a poster in the forum who seems to think we'll all be spreading butter on them soon (best thing since sliced bread), and that they're the future of rock. Well, such grandiose claims had better be grounded in reality and need to stand up to close scrutiny, so the question asked here is do this band from Sin City do either? Or both? Let's remember this is their debut album, although they have apparently had several EPs, tracks from some appear here, but even so, that's not really going to earn them any sympathy here if this turns out to be a load of old rubbish. I've heard to date just the one track from them in a playlist I made prior to writing these reviews, to prepare myself in part for what I was going to hear, and I have to admit what I heard was okay, though again I have to say it didn't blow me away. Still, that was one track. What does the whole album sound like?

We'll find out shortly, but first, the inevitable “who are [insert band name here]” bit. Well, it seems that their name, rather than lay claim to any fantasy connotations, is an anagram, yet we're told that the actual word or words being shifted around are a close-kept secret. Yeah, that makes sense, certainly! Imagine Dragons are a four-piece, formed in Las Vegas in 2008, and a year later were hard at work on their first EP. They've already appeared on many big talk shows in the States, and Billboard have touted them as one of the “brighest new stars of 2012”. One of their songs has already featured in “Glee”. Yeah, I hate the show too, but you have to admit that when your music appears in that programme you are seen to have arrived.

So how about the album then, Einstein? I'm getting to that. Right now. Opener “Radioactive” starts off with a deceptively gentle acoustic guitar from Wayne Sermon, then turns into a hard, slow hip-hop (I think) style song; I have no experience in that genre, but it sounds like something the likes of 50 Cent or Dollar or one of his mates would be seen singing. Maybe it's dubstep? There's big heavy echoey, almost sweeping percussion, like a lot of people slowly clapping in rhythm, keyboards and a strong chorus, with some unexpected viola from otherwise drummer Dan Platzman, while vocalist Dan Reynolds certainly makes himself heard. I hear a lot of dance and some annoying vocoder on “Tiptoe”, and not to be fair too much rock. Hopes sinking?

Squeaky keyboard doesn't add much to my mood, more heavy drumming and I really can't hear too much guitar, though it's there somewhere. Next one up is the song I heard, and in fact it's their first single so you may know it. “It's time” does up the ante a little, with a strangely oriental guitar line and some nice hooks which give way to a very satisfying bridge and chorus, more keys (which appear to be uncredited on the album but pretty much ubiquitous), Reynolds' voice a little more ragged and raspy here, and I can see why this was chosen as the lead single. It is very catchy, quite anthemic in its way. A good bit more guitar too, then “Demons” has a lot of Coldplay in it, with a nice little dreamy piano line then that heavy rolling drum --- is that dubstep? Someone enlighten me. Not a ballad, but the slowest track so far.

Abrupt ending and we're into a jangly little rocker they call “On top of the world”, which almost whistles its way along: seriously, there's a keyboard melody that's just like someone whistling happily. Timpani or congas or something in that line adds a sense of the Caribbean to the song, and it's, well, a happy little tune, as perhaps you might expect from the title. Not bad. Good backing vocals and a nice rhythm. Still, we're almost halfway through the album now and I'm not hearing anything that convinces me these guys are anything to get excited about, and I find myself wondering what Billboard sees in them? I mean, they're okay, certainly, but nothing special. “Amsterdam” sounds like it might be the first ballad, starting nice and relaxed and gentle and although the tempo picks up a little I still think it's pretty laidback.

Another nice piano melody --- why is the keysman, or woman, not credited? They seem to drive the whole sound of much of this album --- then some harder guitar and okay, it's not a ballad, but again it's one of the more restrained songs on the album with a nice vocal line from Dan Reynolds, who somehow manages to sound like Brandon Flowers. Hmm. Interesting, as the Killers also hail from the desert state, indeed come from Las Vegas too. Wonder if they met up and some influences from Flowers rubbed off on Reynolds? Certainly sounds like it. Even the guitar at the end has Killers written all over it. With percussion more in the Phil Collins mode than the Killers, “Hear me” is another slower, softer song with some nice slide guitar --- it's good to hear Sermon getting his riffs in properly now --- and the heavy (dubstep?) drumbeats appear to have been left behind for now.

On the other hand, “Every night” is a huge disappointment, sounding like Westlife, One Direction or any boyband you care to name. Totally generic, boring and stultifyingly annoying. I don't even want to say any more about it; it's threatening to change my mind about these guys completely, but that would be unfair. One song should not define a band, and although as I preach in my “Bad Apples” section, one bad track can come close to ruining an album, I'm prepared to overlook this, mostly because to be honest I haven't been that impressed that one bad song is going to devastate me. The album thus far is okay, but I certainly could live without it as happily. I don't feel like I've been let in on any great secret here, or allowed share in a wonderful experience I would otherwise not have had.

Nice acoustic guitar and some sort of whistly, fluty sound on the keyboard in “Bleeding out”, then they ruin it by hitting up some trance-style squeaky synth, and the big heavy drums are back and once more, I'm losing the will to live. Well, maybe not the will to live, but certainly the will to last to the end of this album. More Caribbean influences in “Underdog”, squealy synth and annoying vocal harmonies, but okay I guess: inoffensive, light, throwaway. We end on “Nothing left to say”, which is kind of how I feel about this album really.

Admittedly it was just the raving of one guy who set me onto this band, but considering how much exposure they've got, and how feted they've been, touted as the next big thing, I don't see it. Pretty much average, okay pop band with a bit of rock thrown in now and again. Few interesting influences, but not interesting enough to hold my attention. The closer is powerful, catchy with some nice hooks, probably one of the better tracks. For those interested there's a hidden track at the end called “Rocks”. Far as I'm concerned, it can stay hidden. Personally, I'd have to say that although this band is NOT a boyband, I find their style closest to the likes of Nysnc and their ilk; not as cheesy perhaps, but definitely NOT a rock band.

Mediocre at best. So of course they're going to conquer the world. But they'll be doing it without me.

TRACKLISTING

1. Radioactive
2. Tiptoe
3. It's time
4. Demons
5. On top of the world
6. Amsterdam
7. Hear me
8. Every night
9. Bleeding out
10. Underdog
11. Nothing left to say

Trollheart, I believe you have trouble telling the difference between any genre that has a more poppy/electronic bent to it... because I wouldn't call these guys anything like Nsync. They're poppy, yes, but not a boy band. It's just typical indie pop.

I've never listened to them before, and I find them a little cheesy, but I rather enjoyed the songs you posted. The combination of cheerful, skipping-along melodies with those big drums and vocals was really fun. If I'm ever in the mood for arena-rock, I may just put them on.

Meh, maybe Nsync was a bit harsh, but they're definitely not a rock band. I did say, if you check, that they're not a boyband but to me they SOUND like one. Tracks like "Tiptoe", "Every night" and "Underdog" just scream commercial pop crap. I only mentioned this because the poster I mentioned in the intro was going on so much about these guys being the second coming, and I was unimpressed, let's say.

You're right though: if it's poppy I have a hard time properly categorising it, but tracks on this definitely reminded me of what I heard when I did my special on boybands. Maybe not Nsync, maybe more Westlife. Anyway I didn't like it, though the closer is growing on me. Just thought they were pretty average, and no way on earth I'd call them arena-rock, or indeed any other kind of rock. Don't get the hype, I just don't. Still, as I say, my not liking them will hardly stand in the way of their making it.

My dear Trollheart, why do you even bother reviewing these questionable albums when you have me around to provide you with more interesting material? :laughing:

Here's catchy and contemporary done right-

http://getmetal.org/uploads/posts/20...8613163_pp.jpg

Yo Ant! Always good to see ya here.
Like I say, the only reason I reviewed Imagine Dragons was because that guy was going on about how great they were, so I thought what the hell, I'll try them out and see. At least now I can say they're ok but not anythng special.

Not to worry: coming up next week, Big Big Train, Marillion, Mystery and The Winter Tree among others. Hey, we give everyone a fair shake here, whenever we can... :D but at least I know these albums will all be fun and rewarding to review.

Tyger, tyger, burning very bright indeed...
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Ambush ---- Tygers of Pan-Tang --- 2012 (Rocksector)
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...jsLxyPYJBk7HOu
So the tiger is going extinct, is it? Well that's really sad and I hate that it's a fact of our uncaring world, but there's one tiger (or indeed, five) thought wiped out who has come roaring back this year with renewed energy, purpose and determination. Now admittedly this is a completely new lineup to the one I knew --- although these guys have already put out one album in 2008 --- with only guitarist Robb Weir surviving from the original Tygers setup, but the music is as sharp-edged and biting and roaringly fun as ever. Roping in Chris Tsangarides (wonder do they call him “Pan-Tsangarides”? Probably not to his face...) who worked on the seminal “Wild cat” and “Spellbound” albums, on which the Tygers produced some of their very best music, it looks in a way like a return to the early eighties, when the Tygers stomped and growled into the NWOBHM with songs like “Killers”, “Suzie smiled”, “Hellbound” and “Silver and gold”.

With a new* vocalist (and new everything) in Italian Jacopo Meille, there's a deceptively acoustic start to “Keeping me alive” before the familiar electric guitar of Robb Weir, always a signature sound for the Tygers, blasts in and then thumping drums from new guy Craig Ellis before we get a chance to sample the chops of the latest Tygers singer. Certainly betraying no hint of his Italian heritage, he's a fitting replacement for Jon Deverill, and the song rocks along but with a certain restraint, almost touches of AOR in the vocal harmonies, but much harder guitar work than we heard in “Crazy nights”, where they began to listen too much to their label and softened their sound, resulting in accusations of selling out, and the inevitable decline in their popularity, which eventually led to their disbanding.

Great solo from Weir, and it's really like the last thirty years never happened: the Tygers are back! There's the very best elements from Kiss and Leppard in “These eyes”, with a hint of Dio too, a great growling riff leading the charge, a big dirty rocker, and the pace doesn't slacken for a moment as we head into “One of a kind”, Meille exercising his chops and sounding like he's been there all his life. Dean Robertson's guitars complement Weir's perfectly, with Gavin Gray meshing with Ellis to form the perfect rhythm section. If I was to make a negative comment, it would be that so far there's not a lot of variety. It's all hard heavy rockers, the kind of thing I loved on their debut “Wild cat”, but tracks like “Rock and roll dream”, “She” and “Man on fire” all tend to blend together a little.

Not that that's a bad thing: this is rock and metal the way it should be, the way it used to be, with the Tygers returning to what they know and do best, and excelling at it. “Play to win” recalls “Silver and gold” from the “Spellbound” album, one of the fastest and heaviest on this album, while there's a very Iron Maidenesque guitar wailing opening to “Burning desire”, but it soon sheds any such similarities and becomes very much its own song, a big heavy cruncher with some killer guitar. Weir straps on the talkbox for “Hey Suzie”, their update of their minor hit from “Wild cat”, and the first song I ever heard from them. It's got quite a boogie rhythm and whereas Meille's voice is not the ragged drawl Jess Cox's was on the original, it's a good reprise of an overlooked classic, and Robb even throws in his original riff and ending, with the drums punching out the last notes as they did on “Wild cat”.

It's pretty obvious at this point there aren't going to be any ballads. Classic Tygers never messed with the slower songs; that only happened on the back of pressure from the label, later in their career, and became an attempt to totally change their sound, which completely backfired. Gavin Gray gets to showcase his smooth bass playing in “Mr. Indispensable”, on which Jacopo Meille's Italian accent betrays itself for the first time, and the album closes on yet another hard rocker, aptly entitled “Speed”, as it powers along like a freight train.

TRACKLISTING

1. Keeping me alive
2. These eyes
3. One of a kind
4. Rock and roll dream
5. She
6. Man on fire
7. Play to win
8. Burning desire
9. Hey Suzie
10. Mr. Indispensable
11. Speed

I'm not going to make any claims about this being the best rock, or metal, album released this year. I'm not even going to say it's the best the Tygers have done, but it's definitely a return to the glory days of the early eighties, before their sound was so diluted by record company executives without a drop of rock in their blood, looking only to maximise the band's financial returns. This sounds more like the Tygers I know, doing things their way, and though there's only one original Tyger left, you'd have to think that the others, wherever they are and whatever they're doing, should they hear this album must think, yeah, that's how we should have done it.

After an absence of four years --- though for me, really, it's been more like thirty, as I haven't listened to anything since “The Cage” --- the Tygers are back, and they're roaring, hungry, and out to getcha!

(* = New to me, new to me! I haven't heard the Tygers since 1982!)

Good, honest music never goes out of fashion...
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The hipsters --- Deacon Blue --- 2012 (Demon)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_Hipsters.jpg

I've always had a special place in my heart for Deacon Blue. Many will know them only from their hit singles, like “Dignity”, “When will you (Make my telephone ring)” and the other, bigger ones from the second and more popular album, such as “Real gone kid” and “Wages day”, but I think both their first two albums are cohesive works in their own right, and each tells its own story. That said, I bought “Ooh Las Vegas” on vinyl many moons ago and have yet to listen to it. I could blame this on the fact that I no longer have a turntable (except the USB one from last Christmas, which I have yet to even unpack!) but that would be unfair: I just never bothered, and I really don't know why. This is only their seventh album in a career spanning twenty-five years, but as Urban Hatemonger once opined: quality before quantity. Even at that, this is their first new album since 2001, which, if you do the math, makes it eleven years between albums. Has the spark gone over that period, or as Deacon Blue as infectiously enjoyable and almost innocent as they used to be?

There's an opening to the album that almost evokes the first track ever released by them, the opener on “Raintown”, a short little track called “Born in a storm”, with soft piano and lush synth, with Ricky Ross's inimitable vocal behind it in an understated little ballad to get us underway, then the title track comes in on strings intro, sharp and punchy before the drums kick in and we get into that old Deacon Blue rhythm. There's always been a great sense of enthusiasm and honesty about this Scottish band, whether they're extolling the virtues of living your life to the full, railing against governments and politics, or having their hearts broken. You always feel like what they write is from the heart, and it seems the more real for that.

“Stars” kicks up the tempo a good bit, with a lovely rippling piano line counterpointing the melody, and Ricky in fine form, backed as ever by Lorraine McIntosh, while things slow right down again for “Turn”, with a great power and drama about it, some really nice strings and strong percussion, piano sprinkled through the track in little segments, the song seeming to draw a picture of the difficulties in relationships --- ”You walk, I'll run, you talk, I'll fight, you shout, I'll cry” --- and “The rest” bounces along with a great sense of optimism.

Seeming to look back to their early days, “The outsiders” features a sort of time-delayed whispered backing vocal, and reminds me of the likes of “Ragman” and “The very thing” from the first album, or “One hundred things” from the second. You can't help but be uplifted by the whole theme of the song with more bright optimism, shot through with a certain sense of reality and the idea that innocence and naivete have been replaced by pragmatism and experience, but the initial wonder of young adolescence has not been completely extinguished. A stadium rock anthem, “That's what we can do” keeps things moving nicely, with a great keyboard line and some punchy drumming.

The first ballad, then, utilises an almost Phil-Collins-In-The-Air-Tonight drumbeat, but “She'll understand” is nothing like that song, featuring an almost duet between Ross and McIntosh, which as ever works very well, and the music paints a scene of tension and regret but softened by memories of past good times. Nice harkback to the debut with some cool harmonica --- hey, it may be on the synth but it sounds great. More reflections on past loves in “Laura from memory”, a mid-paced half-ballad sung with that rapid-fire delivery Ricky Ross has made something of his trademark.

There's almost Elton John in “It will end in tears” as the tempo kicks right back up again, and we end on another ballad, with some more nice duetting as “Is there no way back to you” closes the album very well. Very dreamy and laidback, and setting the seal on what may not be actually seen as a comeback album, but one which will prod people and remind them that Deacon Blue are still around.

TRACKLISTING

1. Here I am in London town
2. The Hipsters
3. Stars
4. Turn
5. The rest
6. The outsiders
7. That's what we can do
8. She'll understand
9. Laura from memory
10. It will end in tears
11. Is there no way back to you

Innovative Italian prog-rockers again look to the past for inspiration for a future classic

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Chapter One --- Hostsonaten --- 2012 (AMS)
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A complex undertaking indeed, and a brave one, but then, Italian symphonic progressive rockers Hostsonaten are known for these grand sweeping concepts, their last four albums being based on the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. This time out they're tackling, as you can see, the classic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Of course, that's a long poem, so they're doing it over two albums, of which this is the first.

Hostnsonaten are generally known for more instrumental works: their last four albums, as mentioned, interpreted in new ways Vivaldi's most famous work, and indeed their first two albums were mostly instrumental, with some vocal parts. Weirdly, both these albums featured tracks entitled “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, with part 1 on the debut self-titled and part 2 on the followup, “Mirrorgames”, so its genesis can be said to have been on those two albums, albeit less well fleshed out, but this is the full thing, split into five parts.

But who are Hostsonaten? Well, their name comes from an old movie and means “autumn symphony” in Norwegian. However, Hostsonaten are Italian; in fact, the band is a kind of a project for the bass player from prog rock group Finisterre, one Fabio Zuffanti, and like his English contemporary, Alan Parsons, he recruits bandmembers and surrounds himself with the cream of Italian prog rock to record these albums under the name of Hostsonaten. Fusing classical, progressive rock, folk, jazz and many other genres and subgenres, Hostsonaten are a little hard to quantify, but their music speaks for itself.

Although there are five tracks there are only four parts, as the opening track is called “Prologue” and begins, as perhaps you might expect if you know the poem, with the sounds of bells and the surf washing against the side of a ship. Then heavy keys and drums cut in and powerful choral vocals add to the mix as the scene is set musically. Very progressive rock opening, with insistent keyswork which then drops away abruptly to soft acoustic guitar and flute, the latter taking the lead in the melody, while the sounds of waves sussurates in the background, then tinkly little piano flourishes join cello and violin before bass cut in and the melody begins to fill out a little more. At seven minutes exactly, this is in fact the shortest track on the album, so you have some sort of an idea what to expect from the rest.

Electric guitar joins in and the shape of the melody begins to change a little, getting rockier and a bit more dramatic, the sounds of surf now drowned out by the rising guitar, the thumping drums and the soaring keyboards. About two minutes from the end the guitars and percussion kick into high gear and the tempo goes right up, everything getting very frenetic and rowdy as I expect the idea of the Mariner's ship going off course and getting caught in the ice is conveyed. If you don't know the poem, I'll encapsulate for you, very briefly. Anyone who knows the work is free to skip on to the next paragraph.

Coleridge's most famous poem tells the tale of an old sailor, the “Ancient Mariner” in the title, who is never named, and who takes passage on a ship which gets blown off course into the icy Antarctic. When an albatross appears and begins following the ship, the Mariner, believing the bird to be a sign of bad luck, shoots it down. In revenge (presumably by God) the ship, although breaking free of the ice, is driven again off its course and finds itself entangled in windless doldrums, becalmed and unable to move. Things become a bit more surreal then, as Death approaches and begins taking the sailors, killing them one by one, but his mate, Life-in-Death, claims the Mariner and decides to allow him to live, to see his friends die. Now of course this is more than likely an anthropomorphisation of the cruel death of thirst and hunger, but it's scary in the poem. Anyway, eventually the Mariner is saved as the winds begin to blow and he finds his way back to his home country, where he relates his story at a wedding. It doesn't sound much, but you really should read it. What I've just written is a totally oversimplified and basic sketch ofthe storyline. Here's a link The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in case you want to check it out for yourself.

And so, part one begins, with Allesandro Corvaglia, sounding uncannily like Peter Gabriel, on vocals as the poem is begun. Against a backdrop of flute and acoustic guitar, with some breakout guitar and synth parts, part one runs for just under twelve and a half minutes, with a great violin solo and some excellent guitar work too, soprano sax from Edmondo Romano adding a burst of panic into the proceedings. It seems that Zuffanti has gone for the literal approach with regard to lyrics, in other words reciting the entire poem against the music, which is an interesting idea, and a courageous one. Some lovely piano and flute, the former played by Luca Scherani, the latter by Joanne Roan, take the midsection until the vocal comes back in, and the music becomes slower, sort of triumphal with thick synthesiser and midpaced drums, choral vocals. Some discordant piano then, some shuddering vocals before the acoustic guitar comes back and it all slows down in a pastoral melody, ending in a sonar-like sound, the same that began the prologue, but somehow this time foretelling doom and woe for the heinous thing the mariner has done by shooting the albatross.

That sound continues into part two, fading away under gentle acoustic, as the sailors blame the Mariner for killing the bird, as fog closes in around them, but when the fog begins to clear and the winds begin to blow again, they forgive him and agree it was the right thing to do. A soft quiet vocal describes the gathering of the fog as the sailors wait for a sign. A rippling piano joins the melody, then gets a little discordant before heavy guitar rocks everything up, the piano turning jazzy and adding funky organ. However, no sooner have they entered the unknown sea than the winds fall silent and drop completely, and their ship being a sailed one cannot move without the aid of the winds. Becalmed and unable to move, they see, or fancy they see, strange creatures coming out of the still sea and crawling towards them. The sun, beating mercilessly upon their heads at night without any wind to mitigate it, is only matched in its misery by the coldness of the nights with no sound of waves or wind, and the horrors, imagined or real, that lurk in the darkness.

To mirror the becalmed ship, the music turns lighter, more pastoral yet with an edge of hopelessness, led by light guitar and piano, the guitar getting harder and louder in progression, organ joining in with choral vocals and measured percussion. The track ends with a climax as the sailors, angered at the bad luck the Mariner has brought them by his actions, hang the corpse of the bird around his neck like a millstone.

Part three then opens on powerful guitar and drums; the longest track of the five, it runs for just short of seventeen minutes, and relates the events that take place as the ship sits trapped in the windless cove. Gentle flute and ethereal piano float like the winds that will not appear to move the ship, suddenly supplanted by wild organ and raging guitar as on vocals goes into something of a histrionic, as a ship is sighted in the distance.

But if the sailors think this is their salvation they could not be more wrong, for the ship is captained by Death and his mate, Life-in-Death. A thick bassline leads the melody which slows to a more ominous pace as the sailors realise that something is very wrong on this skeletal ship that approaches them. Some ethinic sounding violin and cello adds to the mood, then everything stops for a second before a big guitar and organ solo pumps everything back up, ramping the tempo again. Fiddle joins in and then the pace slackens again, perhaps to mirror the dread of the crew as they see that Death and his mate are casting dice for their very souls. Death winning all but that of the Mariner, causes the sailors to drop down dead, but Life-in-Death forces the Mariner to remain alive while he watches his friends die. A great guitar solo ends this, the third part of the story, and indeed brings to a close the third part of the poem.

When we next meet the Mariner, he is back on land, telling his story, but only for a moment, as the scene shifts back to his lonely vigil, as he, alone, survives and is forced to look into the dead eyes of his crewmates for seven awful days and nights. Like a lonely sentinel --- which in ways the Ancient Mariner is --- a single bagpipe starts part four, with sounds of surf and a chiming guitar backing it. Then soft yet brittle piano carries the melody alone as Simona Angiloni takes the vocal role of the wedding-guest (although it's meant to be a man in the poem: poetic licence?) with mournful violin counterpointing the piano. Then folky acoustic guitar joins the violin as we return to the Mariner alone on his ship.

In a waltzy sort of rhythm, the narration continues, and it seems clear now that Signora Angiloni is going to take the role of the Mariner too, which is even more confusing, considering his voice has been sung by a male up to now, and he is, after all, a man. But no matter. Her voice is certainly angelic and easy on the ears, and perhaps we're meant to be hearing the softer, more repentant side of the Ancient Mariner. The guitar gets a little harder and bass joins in, as the Mariner contemplates his situation and watches the living things in the sea, no longer seeing them as evil or ugly, but as beautiful creations of God. The bagpipes return as Angiloni's voice gets a little more ragged and intense as the Mariner wonders what is going to happen to him, why he cannot die?

Tinkly piano is all that's left then as the final section of part four begins, and the Mariner's redemption is at hand. Heavy organ and choral vocals drive the ending, pounding but measured and precise drumming as Allesandro Corvaglia comes back in, duetting with Simona, as the albatross suddenly falls from the Mariner's neck and sinks into the sea, taking with it his sin, his guilt and the awful evidence of the crime that caused the deaths of two hundred sailors.

And with a final flourish on guitar and choral vocals, falling away to one last booming, echoing synth note, that's where we leave the hapless Ancient Mariner, stranded on a boat full of dead men in an unknown land, facing his demons and unsure what his fate is to be. Zuffanti has promised there will be a second chapter, presumably finishing the story --- there are three more parts to go --- but we're going to have to wait until next year for the conclusion of this epic musical poem.

TRACKLISTING

1. Prologue
2. Part I
3. Part II
4. Part III
5. Part IV

Seldom have I seen a project on this scale. Yes, people have interpreted literary works before --- only recently I reviewed Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman's retelling of the story of the Hound of the Baskervilles --- but I can't ever recall anyone transcribing the work, word for word, into their lyrics. It's also done with such care, and reverence for the source material, and with such expertise that if it's the first time you've heard the poem it could be something you will forever hear when you read it, as those who came to the work via Iron Maiden's version will always hear that low bass and creaking timbers, with the sonorous voice intoning the stanzas.

A true collision of arts, the best of both worlds, not the only way to get into Coleridge certainly, but a very enjoyable and rewarding one, and the artiste should be commended and congratulated on succeeding beyond perhaps even his wildest dreams in managing not only to bring to life a story over two hundred years old, but to make it sound relevant and current.

That special magic is back...
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See right through you --- Jadis --- 2012 (Jadismusic)
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Turns out 2012, or at least the second half of it, is looking like being a good year for new releases from progressive rock bands. We've had new albums from established artistes like Marillion, Big Big Train and Neal Morse, among others, now comes the first new Jadis album in six years. Sadly, it only has eight tracks on it, and none of them are particularly long, certainly no epics. So are we being shortchanged, or is it a case of eight perfect tracks are better than twenty below-par ones, as I've alluded to before?

Well, rippling keyboards open the album, though it's new guy Arman Vardanyan who's behind the keyboard, then the signature guitar sound of Gary Chandler cuts in, soon followed by his vocals and the first track “You wonder why” is underway, with all the usual hallmarks of Jadis: great hooks, a soft but strong vocal line and great melodies. I've never fully been able to put my finger on why I like Jadis, I just do. Their music is very recognisable and has a sound all its own, and of course you have bandmembers who play, or have played, in the likes of Frost*, Arena and IQ, so there's great pedigree there. Chandler's guitar has always been an integral part of the overall Jadis sound, and it's put to great use here in a pretty mid-paced opener, leading into the harder, more rocky “Try my behaviour”, with a great little bassline from Andy Marlow and some quite funky guitar, supplemented by rolling keyboard lines from Vardanyan.

There's something almost magical about the music of Jadis; it just seems to leak into your soul and float around in there, filling your heart with warmth and good feeling. Central to this is the clear voice of Chandler, founder member and indeed only remaining original member, whose quintessentially English voice gives this band a sort of Big Big Train/Marillion sound, while yet retaining very definitely their own identity. There's one of many lovely solos on the album to be found here --- in fact, the track fades out on one such --- as well as some great vocal harmonies, another of Jadis's strengths. But the keyboards have their time in the sun too, and though I prefer the work of original keysman Pete Salmon, Vardanyan's intro to the next track. “What if I could be there” is a perfect backdrop for Gary Chandler's soulful vocal, with Marlow's bass slowly thrumming its way into the melody until suddenly it all bursts into a big uptempo rocker, taking off indeed on that bass pattern, locked in by Steve Christey's measured drumming and running alongside the powerful guitar line.

Great interplay later between the guitar and keys, then Chandler unleashes another smooth solo, chased by Vardanyan's bubbling keys, the whole song slowing down unexpectedly in the last minute for a beautiful little interlude on keys and soft guitar to take it to its conclusion. “More than ever” starts on a sort of tribal drumbeat with high keys and piano then hits a David Grayesque melody, and you have to hand it to Vardanyan here for his fine piano work as well as ethereal synthplay, then almost out of the blue Chandler knocks off a mad, dirty rock solo on the guitar, bringing in more interplay with the keysman, kind of Yes-style. It's more great guitar work though that sees out the song in style, with some final piano notes, then we're into a nice echoey guitar to takes us into “All is not equal”, pretty much the ballad on the album, where Chandler again displays his prowess behind the mike, impassioned and yearning as the keyboards paint a soundscape behind him, these selfsame keys setting up an almost electronica introduction to “Nowhere near the truth” until Chandler's guitar re-establishes the song's rock credentials; a great little instrumental, showcasing the band's prolific talents as it grooves along in a sometimes funky, sometimes electronic and sometimes rocky manner.

“Learning curve”, then, opens on a light little acoustic guitar against Chandler's vocal, with soft synth slowly swelling in the background, some digital piano finding its way in too, quite laidback and almost minimalist, a little Spanish guitar solo in the middle then the electric kicking in as the percussion gets heavier and the sound begins to fill out a little more. Jadis are a band who take their music seriously, and it's another smooth guitar solo that fades out this track rather perfectly, taking us to, already, the final track.

It's the title one, and indeed the longest at just over eight minutes, another mid-paced track. It's fair to say that there's no out-and-out rockers on this album, but then, that's not Jadis's way. They tend to do more thoughtful, introspective songs, songs that mean something, and each album is always more than the sum of its parts. As ever, Chandler's guitar is to the fore here, backed by Marlow's quiet and steady bass: Marlow's no John Jowitt, but he does know his way around a fretboard. Another great instrumental section in the middle, quite reminscent of 1980s Marillion really, climaxing in one last superb guitar solo and taking us almost to the last minute before the vocal comes back in for the final time as the song fades out on hard rock guitar.

TRACKLISTING

1. You wonder why
2. Try my behaviour
3. What if I could be there
4. More than ever
5. All is not equal
6. Nowhere near the truth
7. Learning curve
8. See right through you

It's been, as I said, six years since the last Jadis album, “Photoplay”, and since then the band has changed, with bass player and keyboard player leaving to join Arena and IQ respectively, but Gary Chandler has always been the heart of the band and like Gary Hughes in Ten, it's he who pulls everything together, writing most of the material and producing yet another fine album for this UK progressive rock band. My only complaint is that it's got so few tracks: I mean, six years and we get eight tracks? That's a little more than one song per year we've waited. Doesn't seem a fair return somehow.

Yet, although I said at the beginning none of the tracks were long, well they're not short either, the longest being as I mentioned just over eight minutes, but the shortest clocking in at five and a half, with a few over seven. And each track is just great, including the instrumental. It's a great album from a great band, with really no bad tracks and almost every one a standout. I just hope we don't have to wait another six years for the followup!

This week's planned reviews

Albums due for review this week as follows:

English Electric (Part one) by Big Big Train
La futura by ZZ Top
#3 by The Script (featuring the return of "The Very Best of Irish")
Sounds that can't be made by Marillion
Stop us if you've heard this one before by Barenaked Ladies
The world is a game by Mystery

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Just as one bad ending track can potentially spoil an album you'd been enjoying up till then, the disappointment felt when a song suddenly veers off from the melody/direction it had been following up to then, or ends suddenly or badly, can be really annoying. I know more than a few songs that I've really been getting into and then suddenly someone decided to change the whole direction and the song ends really badly. We looked in the first edition of this section --- months ago now --- at Meat Loaf's classic “Objects in the rearview mirror”, but a song I feel just loses it right at the end is the subject of today's feature.

Tearing at the faerytale
Mostly Autumn
Glass shadows (2008)
Written by Bryan Josh
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The first song I heard from what was, at the time, the new album, I really loved this at first, and it gave me high expectations for the coming album. Those expectations were not entirely met, but that's a story for another day. I loved the way the song moved along from a gentle, plucked almost acoustic guitar intro into a full-blooded keys and strings melody, and after running for something like seven minutes it looks like it's just going to fade out, which would have suited me fine. A good ending.

But then from out of nowhere, a hard guitar sets up a repeating riff, and for me the ending is ruined. I don't know why they didn't let it just fade, but they seemed to want to change it at the last moment. The intrusion by the rocky guitar is unexpected, and quite incongruous: it just doesn't seem to fit at all, and it's not borrowed from any other part of the melody, so I really just don't get it. It just changes the whole feel of the song, and for me at any rate leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. It's almost like being told as a kid you were going to Disneyland, only to end up at the dentist! Well, maybe not that bad, but it is a major disappointment.

Been meaning to ask you this for a while. But how do you decide which albums and bands you are going to review. I'm sure that you have some kind of criteria to help you decide, or is it just done randomly?

Depends. A lot of my material is pre-written, as in, I write reviews in advance and then later on decide when to actually post them. I also have a list of "sections", which I add to and check as I go along, so that if I haven't done a particular section recently I might think about going back to it, as in today's "NO! It can't end like this!" slot. I'm also working on only the second "Crashing solo" feature, the last of which was sometime last year.

Often I just like to review albums I love, but sometimes ones I hate; then again it can be a case of well I did a prog album yesterday, a metal one the day before that, hmm... how about Barry Manilow? :) Or something similar; a chance to keep everything as varied and eclectic as possible. I prefer if possible not to review albums from the same genre too often together --- unless I'm doing a series or feature --- and even then, I try to ensure the journal isn't just jammed with album reviews, slotting in other sections like "What's in a name?", "More than words" and so on.

There's no actual set plan: I actually have too much music to ever be able to adequately review all my albums. In general I try if I've reviewed an album by one band to not do another of theirs for a while, perhaps months. This great restraint is shown in my only reviewing two Marillion albums in all my time here, even though they're my favourite band. Excuse me, three: I forgot "Somewhere else", which was reviewed in the "Last Chance Saloon" --- must do that again soon, but I digress. If I only concentrated on the albums I love then this could become quite a boring and predictable journal, but really, no-one knows what I'm going to come up with next, least of all me. I mean, who else would think of reviewing Black Sabbath and then Pixie Lott? Or Holst's "The Planets"? Or Vangelis? I like to surprise my readers, throw them a little off-guard. Lisnaholic said that on his first visit here last week he was surprised not to find just prog albums. That's the kind of reaction I'm going for. It's like, wow, you're a prog head but you listen to Robbie Williams/Steve Earle/Motorhead? Keep em guessing, say I! :D

But yeah, that's it. Sometimes I'll have an idea what I'm going to review, sometimes it's taken from something I've already written, perhaps weeks or months ago, and sometimes it's almost stick a pin in the map and see where we end up, as it were. Much more fun that way. But hey, that's my style, might not suit everyone.

La futura --- ZZ Top --- 2012 (American Recordings)
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To most people there are two ZZ Tops. Well, that's not exactly accurate. Let's start again. To most people, there is the ZZ Top who wrote such hits as “Legs” and “Gimme all your lovin'”, and pretty much faded away after the initial buzz had faded and the hipsters moved on to the next big thing. They will forever be (I'm sure to their considerable delight) linked with videos of sexy girls in short skirts, which was, let's be honest, their window to mainstream success in the early eighties. I mean, these are great songs, but you ask any man (I specify man, not woman) in the street what they remember about them, and nine out of ten are going to grin and mention the women. Some will remember the tunes, yes, but all will remember the girls. I know I do. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but once a band establishes a pattern for their videos, people expect it, and if they don't get it then the next single may not do as well, or even chart. Madness were known for their comedic videos, and when they stopped doing them and tried to be taken more seriously --- that ship had already sailed --- people just weren't as interested.

I'm reminded of Bart Simpson in the episode where he finds fame as the “I didn't do it boy”. Tired of milking the one phrase and desperate to be taken seriously, he goes on a talk show and tries to talk about the rainforests, but all they want to hear is the phrase. The public want what the public gets, as Paul Weller once caustically wrote. Or to put it another way, who would you rather see: the terrifying, all-powerful Oz, or the diminutive, somewhat scatterbrained old man behind the curtain? Often, it's the spectacle we crave, not what lies beneath. Style over substance.

None of which is ZZ's fault. They got great mileage (geddit?) out of those videos, but predictably their next album, though successful, was not the monster that “Eliminator” was. Ask anyone who's not a fan to name a ZZ track, I guarantee you next month's wages (I'm not working, but that's beside the point!) that they'll reel off one, two or three of those hit singles and not know one other. I'm no huge fan, but I can point to “Tush”, “Cheap sunglasses”, “Rough boy” and others. That doesn't qualify me as being more into ZZ Top than the chart-buying public, but I do know some things about the band that they don't.

Of course, real fans will talk about “Tres hombres”, “Deguello” and “Rio Grande mud”, perhaps even their album prior to this, “Mescalero”. I don't claim to know these albums, though I did come across a few of them when looking through record bins. I always put them back, thinking they looked boring. Hey, I was young once you know! But it's been twenty-nine years since “Eliminator”, and even nine years since “Mescalero”, and you have to wonder, are the tres hombres still relevant? Does it matter? More to the point, is this a good album?

Well, first let me disabuse you of any notions of an almost-thirtieth-anniversary “Eliminator”, because this album is nothing like their most famous one. If anything, it would seem to be a return to the blues rock of albums like “Tejas” and “Fandango!”, or that's what I think. You won't get any big commercial pop hits here: there are no drum machines, no synthesisers (though Billy does play piano) and no dancefloor fillers. What there is, is that old style Texas blues and southern rock they were once famous for. No real attempts to bust open the charts again; they've been there, done that. This is ZZ playing how they want to, and if the world don't like it they can just spin on this middle finger.

They set their stall out from the off with “Gotsta get paid”, a big growling guitar from Billy and heavy drumming from Frank Beard, Billy's gruff and instantly recognisable vocals cutting through the music like a Texas longhorn. Squealing guitar and thumping bass are the order of the day, and not a sexy model in sight! Well, okay, there are, but they're not driving the song, and they're only featured sporadically in the video. As for the music, hombre? It's downhome, it's dirty, it's raw, it's ZZ as they used to be, and it certainly makes an impression. Apparently it's, at least in part, a cover of a rap song called “25 lighters”? Fraid ya got me there, but so spake Wiki. “Chartreuse” hits right in as the opener cuts off abruptly, and we're into a big striding boogie rocker, with a lovely walking bassline from Dusty Hill, and almost on the very same melody “Consumption” piles in, boogeyin' on down the road. It's actually quite scary how similar these two songs are; they could almost be two parts of a suite. If ZZ did suites. Which they don't. Unless they're in the Rio Grande Hilton, I guess.

This one features a superb twelve-bar blues on the guitar from Billy, though I have to say so far I ain't heard nuttin' from that there pianner! Never mind, here comes the ballad. It's a lovely, slow, swaying piece driven by a soulful guitar line with Billy finally tickling those ivories, and it's impressive how he can be roaring and growling about booze and women one moment, and the next so sensitive and vulnerable, like a broken man crying into his whiskey. Kind of sounds like Tom Waits singing a ballad: although it somehow doesn't seem right, it somehow does. Great emotional guitar solo, while Frank and Dusty hold the line like comrades that have Billy's back, always. A song about realising it's finally over, and getting on with your life, it's a sobering piece of work and just really bookends the heavier, rockier tracks well.

Speaking of those, “Heartache in blue” gets back to the grind, more dirty guitar and although it's slower than what's gone before it's not a ballad, with some fine harmonica from James Harman which really adds to the rough, raw Chicago blues feel of the song, with some pained backing vocals from Dusty. Brilliant duet between the harmonica and guitar near the end, then the oddly-titled “I don't wanna lose, lose, you” is another hard rocker, with breakout guitar from Gibbons, and a real flavour of toolin' down the road on a hog, after which they take off on “Flyin' high”, upping the tempo a little, though there's nothing breakneck about this album. It's all hard, tough but grounded southern rock/blues, swaggering rather than running, reaching the same destination by a different route.

I have to say, the cover of the album is odd: the guys (two of them, anyway) look more like Jewish rabbis than bearded Texans! Course, we're used to the bearded image of ZZ, but that particular silhouette? Nah, doesn't do it for me. Still, it's not what's on the cover that's important, and if you're a ZZ fan you're gonna buy the album no matter what's on the sleeve. Big heavy grinder as the boys fall back to earth with a bump for “It's too easy manana”, which I think is a cover of a bluegrass song by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch, who popped up somewhere ... where was it? Oh yeah: my review of Mark Knopfler's “Sailing to Philadelphia”. More great guitar work from Billy G, and it's a powerful, intense song delivered with real conviction, almost a Lynyrd Skynyrd feel about it.

ZZ has always been Billy's band. He was the founder, and he writes most if not all of the songs, plays the guitar, sings and, as mentioned, at least here plays piano too. As if that wasn't enough, he also produces the album. But that's not to say that Frank and Dusty are just along for the ride, far from it. However, as with many big bands, there's one big personality that stands proud to the foreground, and here that's Mister Billy Gibbons. “Big shiny nine” is one of those, I think, risque songs that ZZ love to throw in on their albums just to either confuse or piss people off, and we close then on “Have a little mercy”, a slow grinder that showcases Billy's rough, gruff vocals to the limit, the most “Eliminator”-esque track on the album. If I had to compare it to anything off “Eliminator” it would be “TV dinners”, with a slow growling guitar and lazily laconic vocal, with a brilliant twelve-bar blues ending.

TRACKLISTING

1. Gotsta get paid
2. Chartreuse
3. Consumption
4. Over you
5. Heartache in blue
6. Don't wanna lose, lose, you
7. Flyin' high
8. It's too easy manana
9. Big shiny nine
10. Have a little mercy

Anyone who comes at this album expecting to hear the chattering drum machine from “Legs”, or hear synthesisers warble away is going to be most disappointed. They would also be pretty damn stupid, unless they've just woken from a coma and the first thing they want to do is buy the new ZZ Top album. “Eliminator” was almost three decades ago, and ZZ Top, who have by now been in business for over forty years, are carving their own musical path, as they have always done, down the years.

“Legs”. “Sharp-dressed man”. “Gimme all your lovin'”. Great songs, great videos. Great times. But they're all in the past now, where they belong. ZZ ain't livin' in the past, they're lookin' to the future.

And from where I'm sittin', la futura es muy luminosa!

The world is a game --- Mystery --- 2012 (Unicorn Digital)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Is_a_Game.jpg

He's a busy man, is Benoit David! Not only has he replaced Jon Anderson in Yes, but at the same time he's fronting his original band, Canadian progressive rock troupe Mystery. I got into this band through their last album, “One among the living”, which I was very impressed with and which I reviewed, and from what I've heard of this to date I expect to go on being impressed. With only founder member Michel St-Pere and David left, the rest of Mystery is made up of session men or guests, like Spock's Beard drummer Nick D'Virgilio and some rather nice flute work from Marylene Provencher-Leduc. St-Pere helms everything as usual, not only playing guitars and keys but also producing the album and writing all but two tracks on it, those two he co-writes with David.

Mystery have been through some lineup changes, even suffered tragedy in their twenty-five year history: bass player Patrick Bourque committed suicide in 2007, while original drummer Stephane Perreault fell prey to a crippling disease which took his life two years earlier. The control Michel St-Pere exerts over the band could be seen as almost dictatorial; after their second album he formed Unicorn Digital and has released all their albums on that label since. However he's steered them through five albums and more bad times than bands twice their age have to deal with, so he must certainly be commended.

This is Mystery's sixth album, and it opens with a beautiful short acoustic guitar instrumental called “A morning rise”, with already that soft flute from Ms. Provencher-Leduc adding to its ethereal feel, some choral vocals on the keyboards from Michel building up the theme before it too soon ends and we're into the first song proper, with again guitar intro then heavy drums and organ as “Pride” opens, Benoit David showing his time with Yes has certainly not tired him out or left him uninspired or burned out. It's actually amazing (as I stated in the review of their previous album, and as anyone who's heard “Fly from here” will no doubt attest to) how much like Anderson he sounds!

Although this runs for just over eleven minutes, it's not the longest track, indeed a mere hors d'oeuvre when compared to the closer, of which more, obviously, at the end of the review. This track which we're concerned with now has exploded into a big prog rock monster, belting along in a Yes/Genesis style, with heavy galloping drums and squealing keyboards, then dropping down to unaccompanied acoustic guitar for short sections before taking off again. Above it all floats the voice of Benoit David, never having to strain or shout. He's a born singer, like Anderson, and it's delight to listen to his dulcet tones.

Of course, as mentioned, the star of the show really is Michel St-Pere, and when he's not running off complicated keyboard fills or playing delicate piano runs, he's firing riffs and solos like a man possessed, making the guitar an extension of his body, man and instrument in perfect harmony. His soft guitar accompaniment and fluting keys are the perfect foil for David's gentle but strident voice on the closing sections of the song, then he kicks in some overdrive guitar as the song reaches its conclusion. This is what Mystery do best: big, multi-part, epic songs that go through several changes along the way to their destination and leave you gasping, as often as not, at the end.

Quiet digital piano and acoustic guitar then open “Superstar”, and it's a soft, exquisite ballad with alternately laidback and powerful guitar from St-Pere, effective percussion and great vocals from David, passionate and soulful. Some lovely choral effects on the keys too from Michel, but it's his guitar that really leads and gives identity and character to the song, whose lyric contains the title of the album, though there is a title track. In fact it's up next, after a less-than-a-minute instrumental called “The unwinding of time”, which features a beautiful little flute intro then minimal percussion and piano into a sort of musical-box melody, and ending with a powerful, rising guitar.

The title track then opens on that guitar, as the instrumental basically forms a prelude to it, then it drops away to more restrained guitar against a sort of distant choir sound, before acoustic guitar and piano lead in the main melody against David's soft but stirring vocal. Bass from Antoine Fafard fills out the sound then a beautiful gentle little guitar solo from St-Pere as David warns ”And so the world is a game/ But remember these pawns all have names”. We run then into a Genesisesque instrumental part as the tempo quickens, before it all slows down again for the final minutes of the track, David's voice rising high above the grinding guitar and thundering drums.

The standout for me comes in the form of another ballad, opened again on acoustic guitar with attendant flute. “Dear someone” is a stronger ballad than “Superstar”, with much more contribution from Marylene Provencher-LeDuc, and quite guitar-driven, with not much if anything in the way of keyboards from St-Pere. This, and the title track, are the only two on which Benoit David co-writes with the founder, and whether it's intentional or not, I would imagine he's the one who slips in the line “Love will find a way”, which is of course on the Yes album “Big Generator”. Beautiful, expressive guitar work from Michel and a very humanistic tilt to the lyric conveyed in David's singing.

Dolorous, forlorn church bells and acoustic piano open “Time goes by”, with a somewhat French feel to the melody, a lot of drama and tension in the music though it generally comes across as another ballad, played slow and without too much in the way of heavy guitar solos or rampaging keyboard arpeggios. Great vocal harmonies, though as no-one is credited for backing vocals, I would think perhaps it's Benoit David's voice multi-tracked. Very impressive though, and used only where they'll make the most and appropriate impact. Nick D'Virgilio's drums start to pick up the pace about two minutes from the end, and the tempo rises as Michel St-Pere introduces some hard electric guitar, the piano still playing in counterpoint, though it's his guitar that has, predictably, the final say as the song closes.

And that brings us to the final track. Remember I said that “Pride”, with its eleven-minute run, was nothing? Well, “Another day” runs for just over nineteen minutes! Talk about saving the best for last! It opens on harpsichordal keys and a nice little pastoral sound as David sings, a man watching the world go by and hoping for better days. More multi-tracked vocals with some sort of delay make the sound much more expansive, and the song then slows right down for a guitar and keyboard interlude as it heads into its fourth minute, then abruptly Nick fires off on all cylinders and everything kicks off before David comes back in with a harder, rockier vocal, the whole thing much more uptempo now.

Of course the comparisons will be made with Yes, and they're justified to a degree, especially as David has been, and is, in both bands, but to write Mystery off as a simple Yes clone band would be a huge mistake. They've been going for a long time now and they certainly have their own very definite and identifiable style. You could say they sound like Genesis too --- and at points they do, and Rush, and a hundred other great prog bands --- but that's just influence. There's a difference between taking the things you like or admire in a band and shaping them to form your own sound, and blatantly ripping them off.

St-Pere's piano takes over at the ninth minute, but the track keeps rockin' and David's multivoice performance is coming more to the fore now. The music turns a little funky, maybe the tiniest bit jazzy as it enters its eleventh minute of existence, then falls back to the pastoral style of the opening minutes in the twelfth, David's voice strong and clear while Michel's piano keeps the melody behind him. Of course there's a guitar solo coming, and it hits in the fourteenth minute, really effective, then a few soft piano notes and we're into a two-minute instrumental section as the tempo kicks up once again before on the back of Benoit David's returning vocal it slows down again as the song nears its end. There's a final flourish on the flute from Marylene as the last minute plays out, and she's accompanied by fading keyboard choral vocals and St-Pere's acoustic guitar, till that's all that's left.

TRACKLISTING

1. A morning rise
2. Pride
3. Superstar
4. The unwinding of time
5. The world is a game
6. Dear someone
7. Time goes by
8. Another day

This is truly a mesmerising album. I loved “One among the living”, and as expected I haven't been disappointed by the followup. It really is an essential album for any lover of progressive rock, or indeed just any aficionado of great rock music. It will certainly appeal to Yes fans, with Benoit David on vocals, but more than that, it's a testament to a great band who have quietly worked away for over a quarter of a century now, but who are still almost unknown beyond their native Canadian homeland.

If there's a mystery here, it's why these guys aren't filling out stadiums across the known world. Hopefully, with the release of this, their sixth album, that may very well soon change.

Tres Hombres and Fandango are ZZ Top's best albums in my view. I would go as far as to say Tres Hombres is one of the all-time great blues rock albums. It does not contain one single weak track. In the eighties, when the band started to use synthesizers, released Gimme All Your Loving and made pop videos, it was a shock from which I still haven't recovered and I don't think I will ever hear them in the same way again!

I first saw ZZ Top on "The Tube on channel 4 in the early 1980s (I'm sure you remember The Tube) I was amazed with their boiler suits and beards! I then bought Eliminator and fell in love with the band. I loved the idea that here was a blues based rock band, playing with a more synth based sound, but in essence those songs were still the songs of rockers and the videos with stunning chicks and cars kind of proved that. I've always had a soft spot for ZZ Top no matter what they did.

Seventy-four minutes of pure perfection.

Sounds that can't be made --- Marillion --- 2012 (Ear Music)
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Marillion's first “proper” album in four years --- the acoustic set “Less is more”, while certainly an album is not what I'd consider a new one from them --- comes on the back of considerable fanfare from the band and their website, and with I would think high expectations from their fans, certainly this one. A Marillion fanatic since Day One (October 25 1982), I had enjoyed (that is, loved) every single album of theirs up until the year “Somwhere else” hit. Something of a sledgehammer blow to me, this album refused to reveal itself to my ears, and persists in doing so. No matter how many times I listened to it, how carefully, with or without as much bias as I could, there was very little I liked about that album. Well, to be fair, I liked it but I did not in any way love it. I tried, I failed, I eventually gave up.

That, it has to be said, shook my hithero solid faith in the band. Up till then, I bought every album as it was released without question or delay, not expecting but knowing that it would be great. And it always was. Without exception. Until that album. So after that I became, for the first time in my life and the first time in my association with the band, wary of future releases. Oh, I wanted that album to be a blip, make no mistake, and I didn't really see any sort of possibility I would lose my devotion to Marillion, but whereas before I had been as certain about the quality of their future albums as I was that the sun would rise, now there was just that tiny little sliver of doubt, that almost infinitesimally small, but still there, worry that my heroes might fail to live up to the high standards they had set for themselves, and which I had judged them by.

In the armour of my belief in them, the most miniscule ch1nk had appeared, and I could only hope and pray it would not lead to larger tears in the fabric of my --- let's be brutally honest here --- adoration of this band.

And to be fair, in general that armour has held, even strengthened. With the release of “Happiness is the road” the following year my faith was repaired, and although that album is not perfect --- and the only one since “Somewhere else” to even fall left of that divide --- it was nine thousand percent better than the 2007 effort. This was followed in 2009 by the aforementioned “Less is more”, which I did buy, but as it was basically a reworking of older songs (their version, I suppose you might say, of Bon Jovi's “This left feels right”) I didn't pay it that much attention. I liked it, yes, but it's hard to get overly excited about songs you already know, even if they're presented in a new and interesting way.

So “Happiness is the road” began the healing process, and now we're five years down from the site of that blip, that bump, that unaccountable twist in the fabric of Marillion spacetime, where suddenly the old laws I had become accustomed to over a period of thirty-five years briefly failed to apply. Since then, I've returned to the universe I know, and here really Marillion can do no wrong. Or can they? I mentioned “Happiness” was not a perfect album: it's not. But to be fair, even going back three years prior to “Somewhere else”, 2004's “Marbles”, while a brilliant album in its own right, did suffer from the odd bad track, which again is something I had never, up to then, associated with Steve and Steve and the boys. However, in the case of that album, the rest of it was so top-notch that I felt justified in just claiming the bad track --- “Ocean cloud”, featured recently on the “Bad Apples” section --- was just that: one bad track, and the rest of the album, taken as a whole, was excellent, just what I would and did expect from Marillion.

Not so with “Somewhere else” though. No matter how I tried, no matter how many excuses I made or how I looked at the album, it pretty much sucked, and I had to face up to the fact that my idols had suddenly developed feet of clay, if only (hopefully) temporarily. Perhaps it made me a more mature music listener: I stopped just accepting each new album and started really listening to, judging, and rating it. I realised with something of a shock that no matter how good the band or artiste, it's always possible to make one bad album. On the flip side though, it should and hopefully always is possible to put that behind you and come back stronger than ever. That's the sign of a really good artiste.

So have my heroes come through for me this time around? Well, to be fair I haven't listened to the album all the way through yet, so this will be essentially a first impression. One thing I do notice is that this is one of the shortest Hogarth era albums, in terms of tracks, and by far the longest of any Marillion album, clocking in at a mighty total of 74 minutes and nineteen seconds running time: for those of you who can't do the math, that's 1 hour, fourteen minutes and nineteen seconds. That's a lot of music!

It's also the first Marillion album to feature three songs which are over ten minutes long: the opener runs for a staggering seventeen and a half minutes --- a feat they haven't equalled since the aforementioned "Ocean cloud", and prior to that, 1982's “Grendel” --- while there is also a fourteen minute song and the closer is just over ten and a half minutes. This of course adequately explains the paradox of how this can be both a short and an incredibly long album at the same time. But length of songs is only a factor if they're any good, and whereas before 2007 I would have just assumed that would be the case, now I'm a little more nervous, eager not to repeat the experience of “Somewhere else”. So, as those Americans say, what's under the hood?

As mentioned, the album opens with the longest track on it, and the second-longest Marillon track ever, beating out their epic “Grendel” by about fifteen seconds (I don't count the title track from “This strange engine”, as although it's shown as over thirty minutes long, over half of that is silence, so the actual song itself runs for about fifteen minutes; “Ocean cloud”, however, runs for approx twenty seconds longer). It's also the most outright political song they've ever written. Marillion have dabbled in current affairs and the state of the world on tracks like “The last century for man” and “When I meet God”, but this is the first time they've come out strongly to talk about a political subject since 1989's "Berlin", the very year that barrier fell.

With the simple title “Gaza”, you know what it's going to be about, and though Steve Hogarth has confirmed the band is not taking any particular political stand, neither condoning the attacks by Hamas on Israel or seeking to denigrate the jewish nation in any way, the song manages lyrically to navigate what is mostly a tricky path through a minefield of possible controversy, leaving essentially the politics and the warring factions, and the reasons for the ongoing conflict behind, and looking instead at the human face of the refugees struggling in the Gaza Strip.

Opening on spacy synth lines that contain sound effects that could be rockets flying, walls falling and then definitely people praying, it suddenly breaks out on a big heavy militaristic melody with an eastern tinge, as Hogarth takes the persona of one of the refugees relating his tale of woe, the drumbeat becoming almost mechanical and Steve Rothery's hard guitar cutting in angrily, counterpointing Hogarth's pleading vocal delivery. Marillion have come a long way since the days of Fish and the Jester, and though I love and always will love those first four albums, this is a new band for a new millennium, and one thing Marillion have always known how to do is adapt, change and survive, remain stubbornly relevant. Here they mix screaming guitar solos with soft synth backdrops, almost orchestral keyswork and patches where there is almost no music, ambient in the truest sense of the word, while above and along and within it all floats the sad, despairing, tired and bluntly angry voice of the man they simply call “H”, who has become by now identified as the signature sound of the “new” Marillion, a band which has been going for over two decades.

At this point, I think it's prudent and indeed important to give you Hogarth's thoughts on the song, as taken from the article in Wiki: ”This is a song for the people – especially the children – of Gaza. It was written after many conversations with ordinary Palestinians living in the refugee camps of Gaza and the West Bank. I spoke also to Israelis, to NGO workers, to a diplomat unofficially working in Jerusalem, and took their perspectives into account whilst writing the lyric. It is not my/our intention to smear the Jewish faith or people – we know many Jews are deeply critical of the current situation – and nothing here is intended to show sympathy for acts of violence, whatever the motivation, but simply to ponder upon where desperation inevitably leads. Many Gazan children are now the grandchildren of Palestinians BORN in the refugee camps - so called "temporary" shelters. Temporary for over 50 years now. Gaza is today, effectively, a city imprisoned without trial."

That really says more about the sentiments behind this opening song than I ever could. As you would probably expect from such a long track, it goes through various changes and different movements, but it is I think in the tenth minute that it really starts to come together, with some soft keys and gentle percussion, echoey guitar joined by Steve's singing before a whole choir comes in to help him and the true heart of the piece reveals itself. Against Mark Kelly's simple piano notes and Steve Rothery's impassioned but restrained guitar Hogarth mourns ”Nothing's ever simple/ That's for sure/ There are grieving mothers/ On both sides of the line” followed by a breakout emotional guitar solo from Rothery as the other Steve roars "It just ain't right! / It just ain't right!” and goes on to say "We all want peace and freedom / That's for sure/ But peace won't come / From standing on our necks”.

An incredibly moving and emotional song, and pretty much worth the price of purchase on its own. I am impressed, heartened for what's to come, but I have to ensure that “Gaza” is not just one good track among seven bad ones. I don't expect that, not in any way, but I want --- I want so much! --- for this album to be the return to the great Marillion albums of the nineties and early noughties that “Happiness is the road” and “Marbles” so very nearly were. So on we go, shaken and moved, a tear (okay, more than one: Hogarth has that effect) in my eye, and next we meet the title track. It's not a seventeen-minute behemoth like the one we've just heard, and from the off it's far more uptempo, with a driving drumbeat from Ian Mosley and almost new-wave keyboards from Kelly, a pulsing, thumping bass from Pete Trewavas, who often gets overlooked on Marillion albums, but who is one half of a pretty perfect rhythm section.

Kelly's keyboards change to an almost orchestral, strings-driven sound, and Rothery's guitar adds the final touch, with some great backing vocals. Then some dramatic downturn keys and some very ELO-style vocoder work before Hogarth returns with the vocal, the sound now quite bright and boppy, very optimistic with Rothery's signature sound, until about halfway in it goes into a lovely, laidback, soft and lush keys melody with flecks of guitar around the edges, the tempo slowing right down and we get one of Mark Kelly's famous keyboard solos, followed by one from Steve on the guitar. THIS is more like the Marillion I know and love! Hopefully, with two openers like this, high quality such as this can be maintained throughout the album. If it can, I'll be a very happy reviewer, and an even happier Marillion fan.

“Pour my love” opens on lovely soft digital piano, faintly reminiscent of the great Tony Banks, then Trewavas's slick bass slides in, and I'd hazard this to be a ballad; Marillion are certainly not averse to them, though they don't sprinkle them around their albums like some bands tend to. There's a great smooth guitar sound to this too, and it sort of puts me in mind of those old soul classics from the sixties and seventies, nice gentle vocal from Steve Hogarth and a beautiful and expressive solo from Steve Rothery. A clever little keyboard part at the very end recalls the opening of “Beautiful” from the “Afraid of sunlight” album.

Also slow in tempo but not quite a ballad, “Power” rides along on a heartbeat bass pattern from Trewavas and Mosley's measured percussion, which shows how well the two knit together as an almost seamless unit. With a certain ominous feel to it, the vocal is almost isolated, with just the rhythm section backing Hogarth as Kelly and Rothery add little flashes of colour to the tune without taking it over. Different story in the chorus, where both come in strongly, but their retreat for the verses helps build the sense of tension in the song, making it all the more effective when they power (sorry!) in.

That takes us into the second-longest track, just over fourteen minutes of “Montreal”, which opens again on a soft piano line but accompanied by a striding bass line with the very barest of percussion, then everything, including the vocal, falls away for a sweeping synthesiser melody before Rothery's guitar throws a few soft notes in, and Hogarth comes back in with the vocal, now set against the gentle rise and fall of Mark Kelly's susurrating keyboard soundscape, then a memory from over thirty years ago as he runs off the introduction to “Fugazi” on the piano for a moment, before switching to mellifluous organ, Mosley's drums coming in stronger now, and we're only five minutes into the song...

It's another instrumental section then, with some chiming soft guitar from Steve, almost sitar-like at times, and a deep, rolling keyboard line from Mark, peppered with other keyboard and piano melodies as Steve H comes back in to relate the trials of being on the road, the people you leave behind and how hard it is to see your children grow up without you in their life, but it's all for the love of music and they wouldn't have it any other way. Still, it's a touching and very personal glimpse into the private thoughts of the band, mostly Hogarth, as he writes all the lyrics. Another fine Rothery solo as the song enters its tenth minute, and it all speeds up in the last two minutes, everything coming together for the conclusion of the song.

Almost Peter Gabriel-like in its mood and structure, “Invisible ink” actually clocks in as the shortest track, a few seconds short of six minutes. It's a slow, morose, somewhat brooding song again carried on Pete's bass, which is soon joined by Mark's soft piano upon which it takes an upswing in terms both of mood and tempo, Steve Rothery's guitar then taking command as the song breaks out, Ian's drumming fiercer and more insistent as it grows in intensity. The guitar in “Lucky man” reminds me very much of “Asylum Satellite #1” from “Happiness is the road”, and certainly starts off heavily but then settles down into something of a guitar groove, with Hogarth's voice showing just how powerful and controlled it is as he belts out the lines without a single trace of effort or strain, despite the strong backing from the guitar and bass.

It's hard to know whether Hogarth is being sarcastic/ironic when he sings ”I truly am/ A lucky man/ I have everything I want”, or whether he is being thankful for the life he has achieved, but I think the latter. Marillion don't tend to write anything that doesn't come from the heart. The closer is another long track, though of the three long ones on this album it's the shortest, just over ten and a half minutes. Opening, as so many of the songs here do, on Mark Kelly's delicate piano line, “The sky above the rain” reveals itself to be a tender ballad in the style of “House” from “Marillion.com”, with some lovely slide guitar from Rothery and a soft, almost laconic vocal from Hogarth. Strings-style keyboards rise like the morning mist from the music, the gentle piano still rippling along the melody like a stream. The tale, again, like “House”, of the breakup of a relationship, it's tender, touching and really pulls at the heartstrings as the protagonist tries to see the good in the world when his own world has fallen apart. Featuring some of the best work from Steve Rothery on the album, it's a fitting and exceptional closer to an album which has certainly restored my faith in Marillion, if indeed it needed to be restored. If not, it's strengthened it, and I think that tiny spark of doubt I had in my mind since 2007 is flickering, fading, all but gone.

TRACKLISTING

1. Gaza
2. Sounds that can't be made
3. Pour my love
4. Power
5. Montreal
6. Invisible ink
7. Lucky man
8. The sky above the rain

It's taken a long time --- five years --- but I think I can now say that Marillion have returned to the excellence of albums like “Radiation”, “Afraid of sunlight” and “Brave”, and that they can only go from strength to strength now. Okay, there won't be any hit singles from this album --- all of the tracks are too long --- but then they've never been about chart success. For Marillion, certainly since Steve Hogarth took over, they've always been about the music. And here, they shine as never before. Vindication? Certainly, without the shadow of a doubt. No, not even that one.

Sounds that can't be made? You've just been listening to them.